East Clarendon's Bailey Hicks, Payton Hanniford AA softball All-State selections

            Turbeville – The East Clarendon High School softball team finished 24-9 on the season, won the Region 7-AA title and won its district tournament in the state playoffs to advance to the lower state tournament, where it went 1-2.

           That’s a resume any team would love to have, but when you come up short in defending a state title, well …..

           “Overall, we had a good season that just didn’t end the way we wanted it to,” said Wolverines head coach Jason Newsome, who led them to the AA crown last year. “At all levels, we played a very difficult schedule and competed with tough competition. We believe we did a good job developing players to compete in the years ahead. Time will tell.”

           East Clarendon had two players named to the South Carolina Association for Women’s Sports AA All-State team. They were junior catcher Peyton Hanniford and sophomore shortstop Bailey Hicks.

           Hanniford, who was also selected as the Region 7 Player of the Year, had a .472 batting average to go with an on-base percentage of .562. She also hit three home runs and had 28 runs batted in.

           Defensively, Hanniford was behind the plate for 151 innings and gave up just four stolen bases. She threw out 11 runners and picked off three more.

           Hicks, who was an All-State selection as a freshman, also batted .472 to go with an OBP of .539, three homers and 29 RBI. She had a 40-40 season, finishing with 43 hits and 40 stolen bases.

           They were joined on the All-Region team by sophomore first baseman Zoey Culick, junior third baseman Layke Jeffords, sophomore pitcher Rylee Atkinson, junior rightfielder Chloe Goff and senior leftfielder Addison Fleming.

           Culick had a .380 average and an OBP of .416 to go with three homers. Jeffords batted .324 with an OBP of .422 and one homer, Goff had a .338 average, a .395 OBP and one homer, and Fleming batted .324 with a .403 OBP.

           Atkinson had a 9-3 win-loss record and two saves in 83 innings pitched in the circle. She posted a 1.77 earned run average.

           SPRINGS, MCCONNELL BASEBALL ALL-STATE SELECTIONS

           Senior outfielder Wes Springs and senior infielder/pitcher Barnes McConnell were selected to the South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association AA All-State team.

           Springs finished the season with a .381 batting average, an OBP of .525, eight doubles, two triples, two homers, 15 stolen bases, 29 runs scored and 33 runs batted in. McConnell hit .378 with and OBP of .525 to go with two doubles, a triple, 14 stolen bases, 22 RBI and 28 runs.

           On the mound, McConnell threw 17 1/3 innings in 16 appearances and had 3.23 ERA with a 4-0 record.

`          JOHNSON LEAVES EC; CORNELIUS INTERIM AD, MCMILLAN RETURNS AS BASEBALL COACH

           Curtis Johnson stepped down as the  baseball head coach and athletic director to become the athletic director at Sumter.

 EC football head coach Larry Cornelius has been named the interim athletic director, while Will McMillan, who left East Clarendon to become the Sumter baseball head coach for four years, is returning to Turbeville for a second stint.

Johnson finished with a 69-27 record in his three seasons at EC, leading the Wolverines to district championships and the lower state tournament each year.

McMillan was the East Clarendon head coach for six years before heading to Sumter.